Ryanair is giving staff bonuses for identifying passengers trying to board planes with oversized hand luggage.
A payslip from a former employee shows a “gate bag bonus” being paid for enforcing the airline’s strict baggage policy.
The staff member claimed they received around £1.30 for each personal item that exceeded Ryanair’s size allowance, with the bonus capped at £70 per month.
Ryanair confirmed on Saturday that employees are financially incentivised to penalise passengers — with excess bags potentially costing customers up to £65 each.
However, the Irish airline, which made over £11 billion in revenue in its last financial year, refused to confirm how much is paid to workforce as a “gate bag bonus”.
A Ryanair spokesman told The Sunday Times: “We do pay commission to our agents who identify and charge for oversized bags, but these fees are paid by less than 0.1 per cent of passengers who don’t comply with our agreed bags rules.
“Our message to those 0.1 per cent of passengers is simple: please comply with our generous bag rules or you will be charged at check-in or at the gate.
“For the 99.9 per cent of our passengers who comply with our rules we say thank you and keep flying as you have nothing to worry about.”
Our message is simple: please comply or you will be charged
Ryanair allows passengers to bring one small personal bag, such as a handbag, that fits under the seat in front of them, with maximum dimensions of 40cm x 20cm x 25cm.
Additional payments are required for larger cabin bags of up to 10kg (55 x 40 x 20cm), with prices starting at £5.
A few weeks ago, Ryanair announced that it would be increasing the size of its free hand luggage to 40 x 30 x 20cm.
It came as the European Union voted to impose new rules, which will ban airlines from charging for small carry-on luggage.
